Fire Petal
by Hollyclaw
Summary: May is recently impoverished, educated, and a lady. Drew is a man with a hairy problem. Somehow May has to help him...without him knowing! My summeries leave something to be desirered, read and tell me what you think.


Hi!

OK, so.

I was reading a book called Fire Rose by Mercedes Lackey and the characters kinda reminded me of May and Drew so I thought I would convert the story to my own using May and Drew. I started this along time ago and I have no clue as to when I will be adding new chapters, so if you start reading this it may take awhile before you'll be able to read the full thing.

This takes place in around 1700 so the way they dress is a bit different so I put some of what they might wear at the bottom

Mostly rated because of paranoia

Disclaimer: I do not own anything. Well I do have this really cool cookbook that I have been dieing to use but I doubt you want to hear about that.

**Fire Petal**

May blinked away her tears; none of these men would see her so humiliated and disgraced and in _tears_. She would be calm, cool, collected, and as in control as a man would be.

"If that is all gentlemen, I should like to retire. I find this very overwhelming." '_There, a proper delicate lady, for them to feel gratified for technically coming to, um, _comfort_ me.'_ One of the men three men turned.

He leered at her and said," Of course, ma'ma. I am sure you want to be alone in this…trying time. Just remember that my… ah, _door_ is always open." May suppressed a shudder. She knew exactly which door was opened to her, with a face like his she doubted that he got many offers except for the street whores.

"I will keep that in mind, thank you." May held her skirts in one hand and got up out of her chair with the other. Holding the door to the visiting parlor open she continued, "You can show yourselves the way out, I trust." The men filed pass her.

"You should take the spectacles off," the one who had talked earlier said as he suited the words to the action. "You have a stunning face and it is a shame to obstruct it." May turned away; when she looked back he was gone. She walked up the stairs slowly, counting the steps 21, 22, 23, 24. At 50 she looked up feeling as if she was being watched. May cocked her head to listen… No one was here; the men were her last visitors_. 'It must have been a bird'_ May thought relieved and walking to her bed room more quickly now. May went to her inner chambers and standing in the middle of her room she closed her eyes and imagined what it was like before the creditors came. Willow side tables, silk canopy, thick home-y quilts, Chinese rugs, Mama's looking glass, all of May's books inside the huge rosewood bookshelves, the curtains, even Papa's portrait! Then she opened her eyes and realized yet again that she had lost everything. Mama three years ago, Papa three _days_ ago, her seat at the university, and everything saleable that was in the house—including the foodstuff. She had until tomorrow to leave the house or the gas would be shut off… In the mean time she might as well enjoy the last bath she was going to have in a while. Filling the tub with warm water, May began to talk to herself, a habit that she should break—along with whistling, wanting to be educated, and almost always speaking her mind—it wasn't proper or good breeding. "I'll have to go to the employment agency. I'll apply for a governess position. Hopefully it'll provide me enough to get my books back." Now that everything had a semblance to order May could relax. Although she didn't like going to bed with wet hair she washed it and scrubbed herself with the soap she was able to hide from the proprietors. May finished her bath and got dressed. It was late by servants time…One of which she was now so she better get to sleep and let tomorrow be tomorrow .

~~~How can I follow my dreams with you waking me up~~~

Andrew Attingsboro looked into a floating sphere at a sleeping woman, "Her qualifications?" He questioned in his coarse voice. The wind by his ear stirred as the Sylph played around his head saying, "Margaret Verandaz; knows Greek, Latin, French, sign language, is great with kids, and 'can sing like a thousand birds'" Drew could hear the quotations. 'Wonder what it took that from…' The picture changed. A different woman was now lying on a completely different bed; whereas the last one had a mattress however shabby this one had nothing but a bunch of rags. 'What can she do? She couldn't possibly help me if this is the state that she's in.'

"Kitty Sherringford; knows Hebrew, French, Spanish, a spattering of hieroglyphs, and can play the pianoforte like a professional." The sphere changed again, this time for the better. While the bed hangings were gone and there was only one other piece of furniture in the entire room besides the bed it was clear that this woman once had been wealthy.

"Mayline Petal; knows Spanish, Greek, Hebrew, Latin, French, a bit of German, and hieroglyphs… Not as fair as the other and has no other qualifications." Drew rolled his eyes, who cared about that anymore? He needed a translator not a picture. Now how to make sure she would come…Being a woman she wouldn't feel comfortable 'teaching' an invalid, so children. Three is a nice number, slightly over the normal teaching number but not to unmanageable for someone used to it. '_Hmm, two boys and one girl __so she has a subtle hint that I don't consider females inferior in knowledge to males. The oldest boy will learn Spanish and Latin, the next boy will learn French, and the girl will learn Greek and Hebrew. Payment…She's a lady so she'll know the proper cost. I can't send this directly to her, a friend? No, she wouldn't have very many of those having unladylike interests. Instructor? Too busy to go chasing down stray students.'_

"Employment Agency." Drew looked up at the Sylph, "She plans on going to the Employment Agency in the morning."

"Ah, thank you." '_Have they ever done this before? Elemental creatures didn't offer things, did they? Focus. What will she need when she gets here? Clothing. Oh, and enough money to get here of course. Harley would have to greet her.' _Drew chuckled, to see her face when she walked through the door! But maybe he could. Glass has air bubbles; he could renew the spells on all the glass in the house. Drew frowned has he reexamined his first thought. Harley. There had to be something that he could do about him, yes there were some short cuts to Mastery but if all that was required was a little self-discipline… No, there was no reason to help him. '_That should do it'_Drew leaned back from his hunched position flexing his paw. And that was the reason for this whole mess! If he hadn't been so arrogant and prideful of his Mastery he wouldn't be this half and half freak! The sphere had cleared and reflected everything in the room. Including the strange half-tiger, half-man thing that was Drew. "Show me her again." Drew growled. Anything to keep from dwelling on his… malformity. She… Miss Petal seemed to be having a disturbed slumber. Miss Petal was tossing and turning as if pursued by a mob. Just as Drew was beginning to wonder what could worry her so much while she was asleep, her hand flew to the bodice of her nightgown. Drew looked slightly away—trying to conserve her modesty but also trying to see what she was going to do next. Miss Petal's hand groping until her fingers hooked on a pin roughly at the center of her chea—er above her heart. Once her fingers touched the oval locket attached to the pin her whole body relaxed like a bag with all the air released at once. Drew continued to watch her until the sun began to show through her window but she didn't do anything else. He shook his head to clear it; he just stared at a complete stranger while she slept!

"Make sure the letter gets to the proper person." Drew said as he shoved himself away from the desk. He stumbled his way across the room to the bed. Drew's slowly fading consciousness only allowed him one more thought.

'_I hope she is worth it!'_

~~~Hollyclaw~~~

Yes, yes it is really short. I'm sorry but it's not likely to get longer.

I put the pictures on my profile... I saw a lot of people doing it so I thought maybe it was against the rules or something.

BTW Does anyone know how to spell 'malformity'? Apparently it's not a word.

Any and all criticism is welcome, but please make sure it is something that is possible for me to change.

:- p


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